A World for Children and the Texas Department of Family Protective Services are recruiting people to provide foster homes for displaced children in this area. There will be an information meeting from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. the first Monday of each month at the Nash City Hall, 119 Elm St., Nash, Texas.
"We are trying to do a big push," said Gaye Beard, foster home developer for A World for Children. "The need for foster families is very high in our region. We don't have a lot of families right here in this area. The problem is children from Bowie county that need substitute placement are having to go to outlying counties far away."
Being far away from family, friends and familiar surroundings can make the situation harder on children than if they were able to be placed close to home.
"The goal is to put kids in foster homes as close as possible to where they came from," Beard said. "No matter how difficult that situation was, it's hard for them to be removed from their school and family. If we move them to a totally different area it just increases their anxiety."
The information will cover the basics of the foster care system including how kids enter foster care, how the system works as far as caring for the children and what the requirements are to get licensed as a foster parent.
"It's very much Q and A for people. They may be interested in fostering or fostering to adopt. We provide those services," Beard said.
Many families become foster parents looking toward adopting in the future.
"That's a wonderful thing but normally when they do adopt they don't foster anymore so I need to replace those families," Beard said.
Anyone interested in learning more about becoming a foster parent is invited to attend the information meetings. Agencies that serve families are also invited.